Chapter 1
"Dad, when are we going to get there?", whined Kristina Collins.
"We will be there when I tell you we are there.", her dad, Dave, said in a very stern voice.
I'm so tired of sitting in this stuffy car, Kristina thought. Kristina had one sister and one brother. Her sisters name was Ashley and her brothers name was Danny. Danny, was the youngest of them at age eight and Ashely was the oldest, at age fifteen. And Kristina was in the middle of them all, at age twelve. Her birthday was in two days that's why they were on the road. They were on they're way to Florida. It was one of the few things Kristina wanted to do for her birthday. That, go to Disney Land and see her computer buddy for the first time. Which luckily her computer buddy lived in the city that they're hotel was in. Her dad promised that she could see her computer buddy. Her computer buddy's name was Carmen Holts.
"Mom would have told me when.", Kristina murmured. In the car mirror she could see her dad make a sad face but he composed himself in just the same time that he made the sad face.
"Sorry.", she said. She felt really bad about what she had said. Kristin's mom had died a year ago in a car wreck. And her dad hates it when someone brings her up. Her moms name was Sierra, she had long brown hair and had mad cooking skills.
Soon, Kristina fell asleep and dreamed of how her birthday would be with her mom and the rest of the family. She wished so much that her dream would come true but, of course, it wouldn't. When she woke up her dad had stopped the car because they were at they're hotel. Kristina woke up instantly and started to help unpack the car.
When they were done unpacking and checked in, Kristina went straight to her own room. She was so excited that she could have her own room in a hotel for a few days. Though she has her own room at her house, whenever she stayed at hotels she never got a room to herself. It was fantastic. She unpacked and went to her bed and just relaxed there for a little while. Later on, Kristina went to her dad and asked him if she could call Carmen. He said yes, but only if she got him a glass of water. So, she made him a glass of water and then called Carmen.
"Hello?", Carmen said.
"Hi. We made it and we are at our hotel right now. Where are you?", Kristina asked, because it sounded really noisy in the background.
"We are at Start-Mart, getting some stuff.", Carmen said.
"Oh, well do you want to meet today?", Kristina asked.
"Yeah, sure!" Carmen said excitedly
"Fantastic then! Wait, where are we going to meet?", Kristina asked puzzled because she didn't know her way around the city.
"Hmm…. Well, how about Dubs ice cream shop.", Carmen said.
"O.k., but, where is Dubs?", asked Kristina.
"Around the corner of your hotel. ", Carmen said.
"Alright, meet you there. Bye.", Kristina said.
"Bye!", Carmen said. Kristina asked her dad if she could meet Carmen and he said that that was fine.
When Kristina went around the corner she saw the ice cream shop instantly. She was so excited. Kristina smiled and went into Dubs ice cream shop. She sat down to the table closest to the window so she could look for a girl about her age. Kristina knew what Carmen's face looked like a little, but not a whole lot. A few minutes later Kristina finally found a girl that looked her age. The girl came into the Ice cream shop and yelled for Kristina and at that instant Kristina knew that that was Carmen. Kristina got up from the table and started walking towards Carmen. Then out of nowhere Carmen shouted to Kristen "Are you Kristina Collins?".
Kristina said yes and Carmen stopped yelling. Man, she must really be excited to meet me, Kristina thought. They sat down and talked about Kristina's birthday and how fun it was going to be. It was almost three and that's when Carmen had to go home. Kristina asked Carmen if she could meet her mother and father and Carmen said sure but she didn't sound exited at all when she said sure that time. And Kristina wondered why. It confused Kristina because whenever Carmen explained her parents they sounded fantastic.
So, they got up from the table and went to Carmen's house. It wasn't too far from the ice cream shop and Kristina was glad because it was like 103 degrees Fahrenheit there in Florida. When they got to Carmen's house Kristina was so fascinated by how huge Carmen's house was. It was three stories tall and was almost all glass so, you could see the chandelier from the outside.
"Wow, Kristina murmured.
"Thanks", Carmen said, smiling. They crossed the street and went into the big house. When they went in, the living room was right there when they walked in. Her Dad was on the couch reading the newspaper, he finished his paragraph, looked up and smiled then got up and walked towards Kristina and Carmen.
"Hi, I'm Jeffery and you must be Kristina." he said, smiling.
"Hi and yes I am." Kristina said, smiling too. Mr. Holts was just about to say something, but a loud boy voice was coming from the stair case. It sounded like the boy said something like no this is all wrong, but Kristina wasn't for sure. The boy was probably about twelve and had the same brownish blondish hair as Carmen did. Kristina realized who he was instantly. It was Carmen's twin, Zachary, but Carmen said he goes by Zach. When he got to his father, he looked at Kristina and said "Hi.".
